The Mutation Mystification
by TurnUps
Summary: A 2012 TMNT AU where, in trying to create retro-mutagen, Donatello (with a little help from Michelangelo) accidentally turns the turtles human. Now, aided by April and Casey the four have to face the streets of New York... but in the day. (Edging crack fic, no pairings planned yet, looking for OCs for some of the chapters.)
1. Chapter 1

**(A/N): Hello~! ^^ I just have a couple of adminny things to get out of the way before I let you go.**

 **First: I've already posted this story on my quotev account, where I am 'Ed and Al and TurnTups'. I confirm this is my own work. uvu**

 **SO - This is set in the Season 2 of the 2012 TMNT series, somewhere between episode 12 and episode 16.  
ALSO - This is very very alternate universe, guys. I know that Retro-mutagen wouldn't do this (actually it's closer to normal mutagen at this point) and especially not make the boys so shiny and shojo but AU. A. U.  
With that out of the way, I'll see you at the bottom!**

Chapter One: Accidents Happen

April O'Neil used her elbow to turn the handle of her Aunt's front door. Her hands were occupied with her school bag, which would not stop sliding down, and a large sized latte. School was as it always was, but it had its effect in tiring her out a little more every day.

All she really wanted to do was sneak off into the sewers and hang with her best friends. It wasn't a gang meeting or anything, don't get it wrong, her four best friends just happened to be giant, half human turtles. It's a long story.

However, with her midterms around the corner, April was looking forward to a night of assorted revision and studying. Not to mention she had to tidy her room, make dinner for her and her Aunt, whom was out tonight, and continue research on finding her dad. Hence, the large latte.

As soon as she stepped into her apartment, she could tell that something was wrong. She hadn't thought it possible to be messier than she had left it, but it was. Not to mention the various fast food boxes strewn everywhere. Her bedroom door was also slightly open and she knew that she had closed it that morning. Her aunt hadn't left that far behind her.

Quietly, April clicked the door shut with her back, placing her bag down gingerly next to her. With one thumb, she popped the plastic lid off of her coffee cup, whilst her other hand closed around a large, black umbrella.

Using all of her konoichi training thus far, April padded across the apartment, tightening her grip on the umbrella handle. As she did so, she heard voices coming from her room. It didn't sound like Dogpound or Fishface, so that was a bonus, but it could still have been Foot clan soldiers. They were talking in hushed voices that made her feel anxious.

She paused again when she was stood next to the door, taking a breath to steady herself.

With a yell, mainly to reassure herself, she spun and kicked open her door, throwing the unlidded coffee as soon as she saw the four trespassers. It hit the first square in the face and she swung her bat, colliding with the side of another's face. Her blood was roaring in her ears, but she thought she heard her name being called. The boys were wearing black, so she assumed it was just Kraang Foot clan confirming her identity.

Ducking under a punch, she pulled out her tessen and caught the third boy on the back of his neck. Needless to say, all three went down like a sack of bricks in only a few seconds.

Once again, her name was called as she faced off against the last boy, who was taller than all the rest. An upgrade?

"April - I'm Donatello!" the boy cried, his hands shielding his face.

The name made April hesitate and glance around. Donnie's bo staff was slung on his back. The boy's leg was raised in the way that Donatello did when he was scared. Heck, he even had the small gap in his front teeth...but that was _impossible._

"Nice try-Donnie's a turtle." April snapped, raising the umbrella and opening her tessen. She was about to send him tumbling to the ground with the rest of his brothers...then realized they weren't all on the ground anymore.

In fact...one was right behind her, with her in a headlock.

"And I'm Raph," the boy growled. "Now stop whacking us and listen!"

April squeaked and dropped to her knee. It unbalanced the boy and sent him tumbling into the one called Donatello. He did have Raph's sai's.

She turned to the other boys, who were picking themselves up from the floor gingerly. One had Leo's katanas strapped onto his back and the other had Mikey's nun chucks. Now that she looked closely, she realized the blonde boy had Mikey's freckles...

And that none of the four had unsheathed their weapons.

"B-b-b-but..." April stammered out, dropping the umbrella heavily on the floor to open and close her tessen. She looked again at the four boys, though harder this time. They were human. Definitely human...however they also looked uncannily like the turtles. _Was this some kind of trick?_

"Believe me, we were surprised as you were," the one with Leo's katanas said, gently. He raised his hands as though he was trying to settle a cat. Now that the thumping of her heart had slowed down, she realized they even _sounded_

like their turtle counterparts.

As much as it was crazy, her sixth sense was telling her that the ninja turtles were standing in front of her...as boys her age.

"So, how, exactly did this happen?" she took a deep breath, putting one hand on her temple.

"Are you gunna stop hitting us?" the one who'd said he was Raphael, replied, with narrowed green eyes.

April nodded, still trying to remain calm. It was just so _wrong!_

"Well," Donnie stepped forward, still watching the girl with wide eyes, unconvinced she was through beating them. He took a breath to say more, but the blonde one burst forward.

"You remember that group hug we had yesterday?!" he called out. _Yup,_ April thought to herself, _definitely Mikey._

"Don't tell me _I_ did this?" she asked, aghast.

"No, no, no," Donnie said quickly. He stepped back as Raph head locked Mikey for interrupting. "This...this was all me."

There was a silence...rather, Mikey's screams echoed whilst Raph noogied him.

April sat on her bed, patting the space next to her. Donatello sat next to her sheepishly, whilst Leonardo, or she assumed it was Leonardo, leant against the doorframe. He looked as though he was keeping watch.

"I was just experimenting on some retro mutagen to turn Wing-I mean, Mr O'Neil-back into a human," Donnie explained. "But, well... _Mikey_ ," he broke off to glare at the youngest brother. "Went through my lab on a skateboard. He jogged me and the mutagen flew into the air. We all got hit with it and...well..."

"You turned human!" April gasped, her sapphire blue eyes wide.

Donatello nodded grimly. It was a believable story and the evidence for the truth was overwhelming. Mutagen transformed the subject into the last living thing that they touched. Which explained the group hug. Despite Donnie's protests, April felt somewhat responsible still.

"You were the only person we could think of to go to whilst Donnie...sorts this out." Leo cut in, he rubbed his neck at the end. Obviously they were all unsure what 'sort this out' even meant. "Aside from Casey, of course, but we don't know where he lives."

"Probably under a bridge," April muttered. Then she shook her head, Casey's living conditions weren't important. "So you broke into my house whilst I was at school?"

"We don't exactly have a key." Raph murmured.

"Thanks," the teenager snorted.

She looked at the four boys again, chewing her lip as she thought. Donnie had long hair the colour of black coffee, tied back in a messy ponytail that stopped just short of his waist. His skin was the colour of a clay pot before kilned. But his eyes were still familiar, a strange colour not quite red and not quite brown.

Raph had finally let go of Mikey and was leaning against the window. His hair had come out scraggly, shoulder length and black, though, when the sun hit it, it looked maroon instead. His skin was lighter than Donnie's, but more brown, like the colour of nuts. Whereas Mikey's hair was a brilliant bottle blonde that was curly too. His eyes were a glassy blue, that made him look like the angel he definitely wasn't. His skin was very pale, closer to the colour of milk, which just showed off his aforementioned freckles even more.

Finally, her eyes skimmed to Leo. He looked more latino than his brothers, with honey coloured skin and ink black hair. He'd even managed to put the end of it, since it went down to his chin, into a small ponytail.

All four of them were wearing stained, old clothes that, no doubt, they stolen from the sewers or nearby bins. They also still had the coloured bands they wore around their eyes.

April realized they were all looking at her expectantly too.

"You can't say _here_ ," she said incredulously. "My aunt would go nuts."

"Of course not," Mikey made a 'pffft' sound with his mouth. "I'd _never_ leave ice cream kitty."

Everyone took a breath to ignore that last part. Mikey's 'pet' cat had been transformed by mutagen into...well, it had been helpful that one time...

"We don't have to stay here, but we do need a human guide, so to speak." Leo explained. Raph and Mikey flashed him a _'what are you talking about'_ look and he gave the smallest of shrugs at them.

"Right!" April caught on. "You guys don't only have to go out at night anymore!"

"Not only do we have the chance to experience the city as normal humans, but we can gather a ton of intel on Shredder and the Kraang, since they won't recognize us." Donnie said excitedly.

"You're in to help us, right?" Raph finally cut to the chase.

April's gaze flicked around them again. _Four turtles who've minimum contact with people, only seen the city at night and an unhealthy pizza obsession...not to mention teenage hormones on top of all of that..._

"No offence guys, but you're going to need as much help as you can get."

 **(A/N): Yeah, sorry another important thing that would only make sense if I put it here:  
My (My = mine alone) headcanon is that the turtles aren't biologically related, more like adoptive brothers, so I made sure they weren't all just pretty copies of the same person.  
My designs for the turtles can be seen on my quotev version, but feel free to use your imagination.  
Thanks for giving me this chance, you know what to do if you enjoyed it. c:**


	2. Chapter 2

**(A/N): Well, I feel sheepish...**

 **I actually updated this story on my quotev a couple of days ago - I completely forgot about doing it here! Anyway, sorry for the wait, but I'm ready to write again! Thanks for being so patient, please enjoy this chapter.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own TMNT.**

Chapter Two: Pizza Planning

Ever since he and his brothers had turned fifteen, Leonardo had spent nearly every night on New York City's streets. Sometimes it wasn't to fight the foot clan/kraang/whatever horrifying mutants had suddenly appeared, but just to people watch.

Nothing, however could have astounded him more than New York in the _day_.

There were more people than he had ever dreamt of. He was astounded to see that all - every single one - of the vendor carts and shops were open and filled with _more_ people.

Someone bashed into Leo's shoulder, causing him to almost be separated from the others. He hurried forward and made sure to keep a tight hold on Mikey's elbow.

"April," he almost had to shout to be heard. "Where are we going?"

"First," she replied, wrinkling her nose. "To get you some clothes that don't stink."

Leo pulled Raph away from a brewing fight by his hood as April continued, "Then we'll head to Murakami's to rendezvous with Casey about the rest of the situation." She seemed to be choosing her words carefully, and Leo could follow her thought process. They were human now. 'Normal'. Should they try to return to themselves, or finally live like real teenagers?

"Ooh ooh ooh, can I call Casey?" Donnie leant his head between his brother's, looking unreasonably happy at the prospect.

"Fine," Leo felt himself roll his eyes, even though his mind was elsewhere. "April, we don't have _money_ for clothes."

"Well, luckily, _before_ someone turned my dad into a giant bat, I got this." April punctuated her speech with a death glare and a smug smile, before whipping out a small, plastic card from her pocket.

Mikey, Donnie and Raph all grinned at the prospect, but Leo knew he had to be responsible here. (He was the leader, after all.)

"No, we couldn't-" he started, only to be cut off by Raph's hand clamping down over his mouth.

"You're the best, April!" Raph exclaimed, giving April a big grin, whilst practically head locking Leo.

Eventually, he managed to get loose by elbowing Raph in the stomach and retreating to the other side of Mikey.

He was going to try to tell April that she shouldn't pay for them, when he was distracted by the building she had stopped at.

It was actually a building he recognized, having slid down it's domed roof many a time (even better in the frost), it was the prospect of going inside. Of looking at the clothes instead of destroying them in a fight.

Just as Leo opened his mouth to suggest they all stay together, his brothers darted off in different directions. His breath came out as a sigh instead and April shrugged at him sympathetically.

"Mikey's headed to the bags anyway," she told him as the two headed to the large escalators in the middle of the shop.

Leo had fallen down escalators before, but he still had a squirmy feeling in his stomach as it moved upwards. His eyes flickered around, taking in the electric lights and all the _people_. It was a good ten seconds before he realized he was staring at the same girl and was making her uncomfortable.

"Leo - this way," April touched his elbow just briefly, making her way over to the men's section.

The turtles weren't completely clueless about clothes, they got T.V in the lair after all, but most of the clothes being sold were...disagreeable, to be polite.

"We're looking for clothes we can move around in, much less breathe in," he wheezed in the changing room. April had handed him a pair of jeans that felt like a straight jacket for his legs. He peeled them off, then through them in the corner, making sure to stick his tongue out at them for good measure.

"Those weren't even _skinny_ jeans," April's reply came, muffled through the changing room curtain.

"April - I found them!" the new, incredibly excited voice of Mikey appeared and Leo peered through the curtain to see his brother holding black material in his fist.

"Shorts - they're comfy and easy to wear!" he recited, a huge grin on his freckled face.

"Throw them over," Leo's eyes lit up and he held out a hand to catch them.

"Guys, it's October-" April started, but the shorts had already been tossed and Leo had disappeared as he tried them on.

He reappeared a moment later with a satisfied smirk on his face. They were short, somewhere in between the length of boy's shorts and girl's shorts, but he looked _good_. More importantly, he finally looked comfortable.

If Mikey was excited before, he was ecstatic now. He tripped over his on feet as he dashed off to find more for himself and undoubtedly the other two brothers.

Leo leant against the door and looked around, thinking of what he had seen other modern day ninjas wear. Specifically, Karai and Dogpound (before he was Dogpound). Finally, he spotted a pile of black tank tops.

"April - could you get that?" he asked, suddenly getting excited himself.

For a moment, she looked about to object, but then she rolled her eyes an strolled over to the pile. _If they caught hypothermia, it was they're own fault._

Once she was back, it took Leo but a moment before he reappeared again in the black vest.

By this time, Mikey had tracked down the two others and were half leading, half dragging them over. The already giddy boy's eyes lit up even more when he saw Leo.

"I wanna try!" Mikey exclaimed.

So, Leo hurriedly changed back to the sewer clothes for the time being, whilst the three took it in turns to try on the outfit. They attracted some strange looks in the process, after all they were teenage boys excited about clothes shopping, but no one questioned it.

Despite her earlier thoughts, April convinced them that, though they looked 'cool', to also buy grey hoodies so they weren't too cold. _She may be amused, but she wasn't heartless._

As they approached the desk, Leo stepped forward to tell April, once again, thanks for the offer, they liked the clothes, but they _couldn't_ let her pay. Once again, Raph pulled him back, this time with a tight grip around his upper arm. Leo struggled, but knew Raph was stronger.

"Let me go," he demanded instead.

"No way," Raph laughed. "Because you're going to tell April not to buy the clothes and whilst Mikey doesn't mind smelling like last month's pizza, I do.

"Well - we - we can -" Leo stammered weakly. _There was no denying how much they needed them._

"Pay? With what money?" Raph's green eyes bored into Leo's until he gave in an looked away. The two watched April, Donnie and Mikey buy the clothes. April was talking to the cashier, laughing, whilst Mikey was overly fascinated with the tag scanner.

Eventually, as it took a while to scan all those clothes, they all headed out of the department store and down the slightly less crowded roads to Murakami's shop. Even the brothers favourite sushi bar looked different in the day. It seemed more run down, old fashioned. Especially compared to the shiny, well kept places across the street.

"This place is a dump," Raph said bluntly when they arrived. The other four gave him sharp looks and he shrugged. "Well it _is_."

"You don't have to _say_ it." April muttered.

There was a sudden skittering and they turned to see a shaggy, dark haired youth tumbling towards them on roller skates.

"Casey!" Mikey exclaimed.

The boy in question stumbled to a halt, taking the four boys in and looked uncertainly at April.

"I know, right?" was all she replied.

Raph rolled his eyes and Leo found himself pushing past him so that he was the one leading the way into the shop.

"Can we have six pizza gyozas, Mr Murakami?" Mikey asked eagerly. No sooner than the door swinging shut behind them.

"Of course," the blind man behind the counter bobbed his head, then paused. "It's a bit early for you turtles, isn't it?"

They weren't surprised he knew who they were. They were the only ones who ordered pizza gyozas and his sense of hearing was outstanding.

"It's a long story," Donnie admitted as they simultaneuously took seats at the bar. The rest of the shop was deserted.

"And they're not exactly turtles anymore," Casey added, still eyeing the four boys with curiousity.

"Interesting," Murakami nodded again, apparently content with this explanation, as his hands moved with a life of their own. Leo suspected the chef already knew.

It could barely have been a minute, before he served up the dishes up. There was a satisfied silence as they all took their first bite, then April dove into the conversation.

"What are you going to do?" she asked.

They all looked to Leo, since he was the leader after all. He swallowed his mouthful.

"Well, it is getting late. We could start a patrol early and then crash a Kraang warehouse-"

"To bash some bots!" Raph finished, a glint in his eye at the mention of violence.

"And get our hands on some more Kraang tech," Donnie nodded.

"And...and...name some villains!" Mikey added, not wanting to be left out.

"That's nice," April nodded. "But I meant about your...situation."

"Oh." The four brothers said collectively. They exchanged some looks and shrugs.

"Well I guess I can work on an antidote?" Donatello gave Leo another uncertain glance.

Leo just shrugged in response. He couldn't see a solid plan for the future either.

"I miss my shell...but this is also a great oppurtunity to finally make some friends." Mikey managed to sum up everyone's feelings.

"Right, so we'll head back to the lair to gear up and then..." Leo paused, looking expectantly at Raph.

"Wot?" Raph asked, his mouth full of food.

" _Bash some bots!"_

 **(A/N): I like writing generally from Leo =u= (Though April slipped in too.) The next chapter I hope to do from Raph, but who knows?**

 **I also realized I never told you what your OC's were for! I'm so sorry you probably think I'm a big jerk!** **Okay, so my plan was to have the Turtles react with some OCs just in general since I have no real story planned (not just yet anyway), and I'm a sucker for audience participation. (I'm also really lazy and didn't want to make up a bunch of people myself.) SO YES, if you have any story lines (e.g fight scenes, fluff scenes, school scenes), it would be 5000085809638% appreciated. Thanks again and I look forward to talking to you!**


	3. Chapter 3

**(A/N): Not as long a wait as last time! And this chapter is quite a big longer too ^^"". I have some notes that I'll put at the end. C:**

Chapter Three: Night Owls

Raph was finding it harder than he thought to get used to being human.

He would have thought that it would be easy, not too different from how it used to be. But his shell had been a weight on his back that he had never noticed. Without it, he felt light, unbalanced and even...vulnerable.

Especially when Leo was driving the Shellraiser.

Once again, he'd never noticed that his older brother actually made the ride quite bumpy and turns quite tight. He'd been jerked around so much that he was starting to feel ill.

"Could you go easy on us?" he finally called out from the back, where Mikey had been jamming into him at every stop, so, in turn, he crashed in to Casey. Way too close for comfort for all three of them.

"I'm _trying_ ," Leo spat back, as the car kangarooed again. "The peddle isn't staying _down_!"

"That's because you need more force to keep it down now," Donnie cut in from his position with the map. "Take a left here."

"Great, so we're weaker now?" Raph asked, catching April's shoulder to stop her from falling as they took the turn.

"A little, but we should - another left - be a bit faster to make up for it." Donnie said.

They rattled on in silence, Raph's eye was on the computer in the back, counting down until they reached the warehouse they suspected was full of Kraang. _Just a little further_.

"Now that we're human, does that mean we can go into a proper pizza place?" Mikey asked all of a sudden. He seemed rather optimistic about all this.

"I don't see why not," Leo replied, then swung the steering wheel around so that they ended up horizontal. There was just a couple of streets between them and the warehouse. "We go on foot from here."

"Finally," Raph and Casey shared a glance, before everyone hustled out of the back. Naturally, April was offered two hands down from her admirer's, and naturally she hopped down by herself.

Raph, Mikey and April headed up a side ladder onto the rooftops, whilst Leo, Donnie and Casey used the streets. As strange as the day had been, Raph felt like he was in his natural habitat. The cold night air, the emptiness of the rooftops - Han Solo put it nicely - _"We're home."_

So, they half jogged across the rooftops, until they were steps away from the warehouse. It was a little jump, but other than that, it would be easy enough to get to. April stopped the boys with her arms, searching for Leo to give the signal below. Raph rolled his eyes, but waited until he could see the others giving a thumbs up. (They had always argued that this was a lame and extremely overused signal.)

They counted to five once they saw the other three go in and then it was Raph's turn to grab the other two as they leapt forward. As he had planned, they landed heavily on some weak floor tile and were sent crashed through into the Kraang's base.

The fight was already well under way, with the three others slashing, clubbing and stabbing the droids. Donnie, as always, was executing traditional ninja moves _exactly_ the way Master Splinter had taught them, Leo had developed more of his own style with his katanas and Casey...well, Casey was Casey.

Raph caught Leo's eye and winked. In reply, his brother kicked a nearby Kraang droid over.

"Good to have you join us!" he said good spiritedly, as Raph's sais cut straight through it.

The air was filled with clanks of metal, the Kraang's disjointed way of speaking and the occasional jibe, because, what superhero couldn't resist being sarcastic.

Raph found it therapeutic in a way. To completely forget everything and have his mind concentrate just on 'not dying'. Just being on auto pilot for a moment.

The turtles had the 'five second rule', if you don't kill it in five seconds, someone else can, because they were constantly outnumbered. This meant that no fight lasted particularly long. Within minutes, there were high fives being passed around as robots twitched occasionally on the floor.

Leo pulled his katana out of one, and then turned to April.

"Would you three mind searching this place down? We can move on and cover more ground." He said, sliding it back into it's case.

"Wait - why do I get stuck doing the B-Team job?" Raph demanded, pushing his way past April before she could respond.

"And why do I never get the A-Team job?!" Mikey added.

That was when April pushed past Raph.

"And you think just because I'm a girl I can't go on patrol with _you_?" she added, seeing an oppurtunity to do the exciting work for once.

Leo looked at them, his eyes round, then sighed. He pushed his fringe out of his eyes, then pointed at April.

"Fine, you can switch with Casey-" the boy in question went to argue, but Leo held up a finger to show he wasn't finished. "We meet up back at the lair. You three will just get in trouble if I left you up there."

At this, they all looked at Mikey, who had picked up a Kraang blaster and was pretending to shoot at the different crates around the warehouse. To punctuate Leo's words, his finger slipped on the trigger and a, thankfully, empty container burst.

"Fair point," Casey squeaked.

 _Can't believe I get stuck doing_ babysitting _._ Raph grumbled to himself as he opened another crate. More paperwork. He straightened and looked around for Mikey. His younger brother was sat stifling through the papers they had found. Not in trouble. _Yet_.

 _Isn't this Donnie's job?_ Raph continued grumbling as pushed the lid off of one of the metal boxes this time.

"Raph, this is all just old junk." Casey called from a few rows away. He had pulled some of the styrofoam out of the crate, but evidently it hadn't revealed anything.

"Yeah, apart from this box full of guns." Mikey added.

The two turned to find his papers abandoned and Mikey half in one of the crates.

Naturally, they rushed over to see too. Raph made sure to pull Mikey out by his hood just in case he did something stupid, like shoot his nipple off.

The Kraang were usually armed with shotguns, but these were more like hunting rifles. A silver, high tech hunting rifle, but that normally meant they were more accurate.

"Hey, look at what they're filled with," Mikey said. He was studying one like it was a new game.

Raph's eyes flickered to the glass vial where the ammunition was stored, but Casey beat him to it.

"Mutagen."

"So...what? They're going to mutate humans like deer?" Raph said, deciding this was definately Donnie's job.

"That's dumb," Mikey said with a chuckle, tossing the rifle over his shoulder.

Raph didn't even need to turn around to know that it would hit something important.

Sure enough, a few moments later, there was the dull beep of a button being hit. The three watched, angrily, sheepishly and intrigued as a section of the wall rattled open.

Revealing more Kraang droids, armed with the said weapons.

Before Raph could hit Mikey over the head and say 'nice job, bone head', they were already shooting the intruders.

They dived behind respective crates as mutagen soared through the air. Who knew what damage it would do.

"Anyone got any bright ideas?" Casey yelled over the clattering of robot feet.

 _Leo's job_. Raph cursed, racking his brains for a plan. Retreat was never an option for him...but if the Kraang droids couldn't fire...

The boys didn't notice a less metallic clanking joining the fray and the flying mutagen subside slightly.

"Mikey - smoke bomb 'em!" Raph shouted over.

Mikey's blue eyes lit up like this was what he had been waiting for. His hand dived into his pocket and he closed an eye to take aim.

As the homemade bomb exploded, smoke filled the air and the three darted out, joining the fray with relish once again. _B-team indeed!_

Raph used all of his favourite moves, throwing two heads into each other from behind, flinging a droid at another, and of course, glorious roundhouse kick variations. Whilst the smoke did make it harder to see, the dark shapes were irrimistakable, and a little bit of ninja sixth sense helped too.

The white air was just starting to thin as Mikey disposed of the last Kraang droid. They were ready for another laugh and high five round when there was a sudden ' _oof_ '.

Raph squinted through the fog to see Casey on the ground, with a figure straddling him.

What's more, a knife was at his throat!

Just as Raph was getting ready to throw caution to the wind and tackle the mysterious invader, whose joints were too smooth to be a Kraang, the knife was pulled away.

"Casey Jones?" a voice asked. The figure's fingers seemed to hit his cheek for the slightest second. A girl.

"Y-Yeah." Casey stammered.

The girl swung off of him, her head steadying a rough sheath that she put the knife in. She swung to the other's for a moment, her booted foot sweeping across the floor. Raph got a glimpse of leggings under a dark jump suit, a mottled cape, and large, round eyes, before she had turned away again.

"I don't know you two," she continued, striding to the back of a warehouse. Now, they could see there was a small hole in the back wall. "But you should be more careful...otherwise I'll have to kill jack you again."

None of them moved as she exited. A little stunned by the newcomer, possibly _another_ vigilante in New York, and a little at loss for _what_ to do.

Then Mikey wiggled his eyes at Casey, who was still on the floor.

"You _know_ her?"

 _Wonder if Mikey's blown up the warehouse yet_. Leo mused to himself as his team scouted the usual back alleys. It seemed, no matter how many times the Purple Dragon got beat up in one, they couldn't resist coming back. They were like dogs chasing their own tails.

But tonight was unusually quiet. They hadn't even found one person trying to smuggle goods out of a shop - not even someone running away from an unpaid food bill. So, way before the moon was even fully risen, Leo had decided to call off the patrol early. Pretending not to be disapointed, the three started back to the lair.

That was when Leo heard the familiar tones of a mugging. The usual cliche lines that I'm sure I won't have to write for you to imagine. A spark of excitement burst within his chest and he skidded to a halt.

"Continue back - I'll catch up." He told Donnie.

"You just want to play the lone hero," his brother rolled his eyes, but there was a smile on his face. He and April would be alone for a while.

They headed off, April looking back a couple of times. He knew she was itching for a bit of action, but she also looked completely exhausted.

He watched them for a second, before he darted off again in pursuit of the voices. He got close and a girl's voice came clearer into his head.

"I don't need this, right bloody now," she was saying. She didn't seem scared, at least not openly. She sounded confident, if a little annoyed. "I've got five shows to catch up with _and_ a paper on _Of Mice and Men_ due."

Leo peeked over the railing. Sure enough, a handful of Purple Dragon thugs had cornered the blonde girl, who was defending herself with a dust bin lid.

Leo saw his opportunity, as one grimaced and held up the knife threateningly, he jumped off of the edge of the building.

"Not my desision," he grumbled, "Talk to the boss. Just give us your-"

By this time, Leo had come out of an, if I may say so, impeccable back flip and had landing just in front of the thug.

He brought his arm up so that the back of his wrist collided with the thug's knife hand, causing him sufficient pain to drop it. The other's recoiled slightly, regarding this newcomer.

"Stay back, I'll deal with this lot." Leo told the girl, in his best Captain Ryan voice.

"You don't have to fight them on your own just because I'm a girl, y'know." The girl said behind him, pushing his arm down with her free hand. She said this at the same time as the thugs saying "no turtles tonight?", both of which left Leo stuttering.

"I wasn't suggesting - I - turtle," he managed to get out, trying to say both things at once.

The girl looked at him, one eyebrow raised, then she turned to the thugs. She took a deep breath, then threw the dust bin lid like a frisbee. It hit one on the temple, knocking him down, before it richocheed and hit another one in the gut.

She looked at Leo with a smirk and Leo found himself smirking back.

"You just lost your weapon," he told her, before he kicked into action.

Leo got a good two punches on one of the remaining thugs, then ducked another's punch, countering with a kick in the stomach. After that, it was just a matter of slamming them into the wall with enough force to knock them out.

He turned back to the girl, ready for a compliment, or a thank you, but she was on the ground, searching through one of the thug's clothes.

"What are you doing?" he asked slowly. He wondered if he'd just saved the wrong person.

"Looking for I.D, so I can hand them in to the police and find a hint to where they're headquarters are." She told him calmly, her hand's searching the thug's jacket for pockets.

Leo knelt down and held her wrists, so that she looked him in the eye.

"Handing him in is fine, though technically it was only 'attempted assault.' But you can't track their boss down." Leo told her.

"They said if I had a problem, to take it up with him." She argued. Her eyes glinted like ice in the moonlight.

"They mean, fight your way through to him, and then fight him too." Leo said. "You may be good at improvising, but you're still a civilian."

"And you're - what?" she shot back, testily.

"I'm a ninja."

The girl looked at him. Maybe she looked doubtful, and a little weary.

"Look, my and my brothers, we'll deal with them. It's what we do. If they ever attack anyone - we're there." Leo told her. His heart swelled when he saw a little bit of hope ignite in her eyes. It was only a tiny bit, but hopefully it would make her return home.

He realized she was staring at him. He realized he was staring at her. She was pretty, like an elf, even when her hair was half falling out of it's ponytail and she was wearing a cheesy uniform.

"Do I...know you?" she asked, then a small smile curved her lips. "I bet you go to my school, don't you?"

"Trust me, you haven't seen me before," Leo allowed himself a smile as he stood up, her hands still in his. His eyes caught in her's again and he turned away.

"Promise me you won't take down a criminal organization tonight?" he asked.

"Sure. I'll do it tomorrow. " she gave him a playful thump on his shoulder, before she started down the street. She waved to him over her shoulder.

"SRMFF is on tonight."

 **(A/N): So, um, I couldn't resist putting a Star Wars reference in the beginning there...we've even recorded the adverts to watch 'on the big screen'.  
-I'm sorry that I kind of skimmed over the fighting. I've never taken martial arts in my life, so I don't know any 'moves', so to speak. I also didn't want to waste too much time on that, unless it's a bigger enemy. (Like Dogpound).  
-SRMFF is that bad anime they watch in the second season.  
-I finally included some OCs! The first one, that Raph runs into, is my own OC and the other belongs to TF Athena Prime. I guess it might be a little cliche? Anyway, I'll be able to get the other OCs in the next chapter. B))  
See you soon!**


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